D56
Store Decor
Lorries Collectibles
By
Ken Shirley
kenpatshirley@comcast.net
The
two types of water that I think look the best and fit the aura of our
village creations are caulk and resin. These don't have to be hard, and
they provide stunning results. If you can frost a cake, you can do caulk.
If you can stir a cup of hot chocolate while admiring your Christmas scene
creations, you can do resin. I have included a few photos in this "How
To" of scenes I created for the displays I have done at Lorrie's Gifts
and Collectibles in Albuquerque. I hope they will give you ideas for adding
water to your villages. Let's proceed.
~~CAULK~
Caulk is highly underrated and is so easy. First, go to any home improvement
store and buy CLEAR caulk. (When first applied, it may appear to be white
caulk, but it will clear up after drying a few days.) Some containers
even say CRYSTAL CLEAR. That's even better. After you prep your landscape
by sculpting out waterways, creeks, etc., on your insulfoam base, you'll
want to paint the terrain and the bottom of your waterway. (This is a
whole other seminar.) For this process, always use water-base acrylic
or water-base enamel paints on insulfoam as they will not erode the sculpting
you may have completed in your insulfoam landscape.
After
the paint is totally dried, you are ready for caulk application. Merely
squeeze out the caulk via a caulking gun, being generous and covering
all of the painted bottom of your waterway and maybe even some of the
side terrain, depending on how raging your water is to be. Take a popsicle
stick, or the like, and spread the caulk to even it out on your design.
Peak the water by tipping the caulk with your stick. Once it dries, it
will hold its configuration better than most products.
Halloween
Village display. The stream bed was painted green with blue and brown
streaks to give it that murky look. Below is a blue desert stream in a
Fontanini display. This is a refreshing blue for an oasis effect
The
photo below shows how you can use caulk to create connections between
resin waterways as well. You'll see from this mountain waterfall (resin)
going into a placid mountain lake (resin) that there is raging water from
the mountain at the top of the falls and a splash when the falls hit the
lake. The raging water and the splash were created using caulk. (Notice
that this picture was taken before the caulk had dried and cleared.)
For
the top of the falls, merely hot glue rocks or pebbles where you wish
the water path to be. Then, paint the rocks/pebbles the same color as
your water. When dried, cover with caulk and peak as desired to give any
effect of raging or placid water. At the bottom of the falls, caulk was
merely applied at the junction of the resin falls and the lake and then
peaked to create the effect of splash. One of the many beauties of clear
caulk is that it will take on the color of whatever was painted beneath
it. You don't need to colorize it or paint it. There are other products
on the market such as Water Effects by Woodland Scenics, Water Gels, and
Decorative Snow. Others will advocate candle wax or paraffin. The three
commercial items listed don't hold their shape as well during drying and
sometimes become cloudy. Candle wax and paraffin have to be heated and
cared for and can become very difficult if not done properly. They are
a seminar in themselves. Thus, for slopes, raging waters, even waterfalls,
I find that caulk is ideal in that it is easy, cheap, holds its shape
and looks great.
~~RESIN~~
Resin
provides the village landscape with a freshness and unparalleled beauty
~~ and no, it doesn't have to be hard. The best resin on the market is
EnviroTex Lite. This product has only a couple of mandates to produce
beautiful and lasting water displays. It comes in various amounts but
is consistent in that it has a bottle of resin and a bottle of hardener.
When mixing, you will want to ensure that you have EQUAL parts of both.
If you don't, or if you don't blend them thoroughly, it will never set
and will always have a sticky finish. The key is to have two clear, throw-away
containers that are smooth on the inside. Pour equal amounts of the resin
into one and hardener into the other, and then combine the two. Stir (don't
whip) until they become one. You will know when this occurs because the
initial mixing will render a waxy look; when the two solutions are completely
mixed, they will render a clear look as the liquid streams off your stir
stick. When properly mixed, you may add color using acrylic paints. I
use metallic acrylic paints because they give a better sheen to the finished
resin. A word of caution on mixing colors ~~ go easy. Resin colors very
fast, so only put in a couple of drops of acrylic paint initially and
add more as needed. Too much paint will darken the resin. Resin, like
caulk, will also take on the color of whatever is beneath it, so if your
base has the color you desire, you could just mix the resin in clear form
and allow the village base color to come through. After your solution
is mixed, there may be air bubbles in the mixture. Don't worry about it
just yet…it is no big deal. Now you are ready to pour into your waterway.
If you have prepared your water area with any rocks, etc., and would like
them to have a wet look, pour the resin over them first and let the resin
fill your pool after running off the rocks. The rocks (or whatever else
the resin touches) will have a permanent shine. After your resin is successfully
in your water area, you have about ten minutes to smooth out any lingering
air bubbles. They will usually burst and go away with a careful stroking
of your stir stick. After ten minutes or so, the resin starts to gel and
you will be unable to "play" with it. Resin will eat into insulfoam. Thus,
there are three ways to prepare your surface, depending upon the final
effect you wish to obtain. You may: (1) line your water area with plastic
wrap and then pour the resin into the lined area, (2) completely paint
the water area with water-base enamel paint and, after it is totally dried,
pour the resin into the area, or (3) pour the resin directly into the
insulfoam-carved area and let the chemical reaction begin. An example
of each: Below is a harbor scene from New England Village. I painted the
harbor a sandy beige color, allowed it to dry, and then stretched plastic
wrap over it, pleating it to create the effect of waves coming to shore.
I colored the resin with a deep blue so that it would be blue water coming
to shore over a sandy beach front. (After the resin dries overnight, you
can simply peel off the plastic wrap and fit your "water" into the carved-out
insulfoam.) Even though I painted the insulfoam with enamel, I lined the
harbor with plastic wrap because it helped to produce an appearance of
waves.
The
picture below is of resin poured directly into the water area. I had painted
the area with shades of blue to give the lake a moving effect and had
placed rocks and grasses in place. Then, I poured clear resin into the
water area, coating the rocks, and let the color of the lake bottom come
through.
The
next picture is what happens when you purposely pour resin onto insulfoam
without its being totally sealed. This is a beach scene for the summer
side of Snow Village. I used Krylon Spray Paint in two shades of blue
on the insulfoam. As you may know, Krylon will slowly eat away the insulfoam.
The differing shades of blue will give you the look of increased depth
of the water without actually having any more depth in your insulfoam
base. After the Krylon had dried, I poured blue-colored resin directly
into the water area. A lot of bubbles and turbulence will be realized,
but the effect of waves and foamy surf coming to shore is the end result.
(A word of caution: Since the resin will soak into the insulfoam, place
foil or a board under the insulfoam so that you won't ruin your display
base in the event the resin soaks all the way through-depends upon how
much insulfoam you have as your bed.)
EnviroTex
Lite will set up overnight. I like it because it has no restriction on
depth of the pour. Another product on the market (by Woodland Scenics)
is called Realistic Water. Its main drawback is that you can only pour
1/8" at a time and must let it dry between pourings. This is too restrictive
for me when carving out water areas - although I did use it years ago
successfully to paint over some resin that didn't set up correctly. I
merely painted a thin coat over the other resin and it dried to a hard,
smooth finish. It also requires no mixing and takes color well. But, again,
the depth of pour is very limiting. I hope this long paper will be of
value when you are looking at planning waterways. Water has always been
a part of all my displays, whether professionally, or in my private home.
One can always have great water by simply purchasing mountain streams
and waterfalls by Department 56 from your favorite village store. Any
way you can add water is an improvement over a waterless village. Hope
all your water projects go swimmingly well!!!
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